Manchester building fire causes up to $200k in damage

MANCHESTER - A large fire that was contained to a basement on Friday caused as much as $200,000 in damage to a Kelley Street building, District Fire Chief Bob Corbeil said.

Corbeil said the fire destroyed a host of electrical wiring, mechanical systems and plumbing in the building, which has apartments on the second floor and an office and Chiggy's Place restaurant, which wasn't open when the fire was reported about 4:15 p.m.

The office and apartments were occupied at the time, but everyone got out safely, Corbeil said.

He said firefighters were able to contain the blaze to the basement.

"If you were to drive by the building right now, you wouldn't know there was a fire there," he said.

But because of the damage to the building's utilities, the building, owned by Karen Kean, is uninhabitable, he said.

"The heat did a lot of damage in the cellar," he said.

A cause has not been determined, but the fire is not believed to be suspicious, he said. No firefighters were injured, he said.